It’s plants combine steam and carbon under pressure and in the presence of catalysts to make pure methane.

As part of its proprietary process, GreatPoint Energy removes and captures the mercury, sulfur, carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the feedstock, to produce a pure stream of methane.

GreatPoint Energy plans to construct Bluegas facilities in locations where the carbon dioxide it captures can be locally sequestered, and then transport its Bluegas product by existing natural gas pipelines to natural gas markets across the country.

According to the company, other coal gasification technologies that produce synthesis gas (which consists of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) cannot take advantage of the nation’s existing natural gas pipeline and distribution network.

Great Point Energy has raised over $150 million in equity and is backed by leading strategic investors including Peabody Energy, AES, Suncor Energy, Dow Chemical, Kleiner Perkins, and Khosla Ventures. GreatPoint is also recognized as a Top 50 Going Green Company by AlwaysOn.

AB

April 3, 2010 at 8:59 pm

Catalytic hydromethanation, when combined with advanced power generation, could eliminate more than 90 percent of carbon emissions and nearly double the efficiency of conventional coal combustion or Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power plants, according to a recently published study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.
The technology captures the carbon dioxide (CO2), which can be used for domestic oil production through enhanced oil recovery. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that there are more than 60 billion barrels of stranded U.S. oil, and the International Energy Agency estimates there are more than 200 billion barrels of stranded oil worldwide. These resources could be recovered with injection of captured CO2.

Alvin

April 3, 2010 at 8:55 pm

– Peabody Energy and GreatPoint Energy announced that they have signed an agreement to pursue development of coal-to-gas and coal-to-hydrogen projects in the United States and around the world with carbon capture and storage (CCS) that would achieve near-zero carbon emissions while liberating vast quantities of stranded oil.
The projects would be developed using GreatPoint’s proprietary BluegasTM technology, which utilizes catalytic hydromethanation to create pure hydrogen and substitute natural gas (SNG). This process is more efficient and cost effective than conventional gasification. The hydrogen will be used for industrial applications or combusted to generate near-zero carbon electricity. The SNG can be transported in the existing pipeline infrastructure and used as fuel in home heating, power plants or industrial processes.